


Dead men tell no tales

by Lecrit



Series: A Pirate's Life For Me [1]
Category: Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec has no chill, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Angst, Desert Island, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Forbidden Love, M/M, Magnus has no shame, Pirates, Prince!Alec, Royalty, Sexual Tension, Shameless Innuendos, The Lightwoods Siblings are wild, True love right there, pirate!magnus
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-07-29
Packaged: 2018-07-27 12:26:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7618078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lecrit/pseuds/Lecrit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnus looked up when Alec stopped in front of the rusty gate and quirked an eyebrow upon seeing him.</p><p>“Your Highness,” he muttered, deadpan.</p><p>“Don’t,” Alec sighed.</p><p>“Aren’t you afraid to tarnish your royal blood by coming to visit a pirate?” Magnus continued, his lips twitching with the beginning of a smirk, lacking the humor Alec had witnessed so many times before.</p><p>His mesmerizing eyes told a different story, though. They were defeated, tired and it only made Alec feel worse.</p><p>“I tried to explain it to them but they wouldn’t listen,” he murmured in a desperate attempt at defending himself.</p><p>.</p><p>In which the prince of Idris and an infamous pirate find themselves stuck together on a deserted island and have to face the consequences when they get back on land.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dead men tell no tales

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Dead men tell no tales (Traducción)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/14118501) by [loove1995](https://archiveofourown.org/users/loove1995/pseuds/loove1995)



> Ahoy cupcakes!
> 
> So, this started pretty normally. I made the great mistake of taking prompts a while back and I got this one:  
>  _"can you do a pirate!magnus and guard!alec where maybe they have Magnus captured and Alec has to talk to him or something and u can take it from there"_  
>  And well... If you know me at all, you know I have no control when it comes to writing so it turned into this monster of a fic when it was supposed to be 5k at most. Also, I totally went freestyle on that prompt so it's not really fitting but I hope you like it anyway!  
> A day may come when I'll be able to get a grip. But it is not this day.
> 
> Also, I couldn't help myself... There's a Pirates of the Carribean reference in there, it's so obvious you can't miss it.
> 
> This was beta'd by my darling Pravs. Happy birthday babe ❤
> 
> Happy reading!
> 
> Ps: If you're live-tweeting, don't forget to use the #lecrit hashtag or to tag [me](http://lecrit.tumblr.com/).
> 
> This fic now has a Vietnamese translation over [here](https://viviemert.wordpress.com/2016/10/13/malec-fanfic-dead-men-tell-no-tales/).

The dungeon was in the most secluded part of the castle, all the way down the main tower. It was close to the sea, close enough that Alec could hear the waves crashing on the shore as he walked down the corridor to the cells, the sound an odd, soothing paradox to the gloomy atmosphere of the place.

It was awfully humid in here and the dampness rendered it suffocating and made the fire of his torch crackle but it was the only noise breaking the silence besides the dull thump of his feet on the ground. The walls looked clammy and it smelled of moisture everywhere. It sent an uncomfortable quiver down his spine but Alec ignored it, continuing his way down the corridor, ignoring the prisoners snoring boisterously in their cells until he found the one he was looking for.

Magnus was there, sitting on the floor, wide awake.

The cell was dimly lit up by the single minuscule hole in the wall, the moonlight bathing the room in a faint glow that was somehow enough to enlighten Magnus’ sharp features, making the prickled gold in the brown of his eyes shine almost dangerously.

Magnus looked up when Alec stopped in front of the rusty gate and quirked an eyebrow upon seeing him.

“Your Highness,” he muttered, deadpan.

“Don’t,” Alec sighed.

“Aren’t you afraid to tarnish your royal blood by coming to visit a pirate?” Magnus continued, his lips twitching with the beginning of a smirk, lacking the humor Alec had witnessed so many times before.

His mesmerizing eyes told a different story, though. They were defeated, tired and it only made Alec feel worse.                  

“I tried to explain it to them but they wouldn’t listen,” he murmured in a desperate attempt at defending himself.

“I killed someone, Your Highness,” Magnus replied harshly. “I confessed it to you.”

“I didn’t think they’d condemn you to death when they heard the whole story,” Alec sighed again. “I swear.”

Magnus chuckled darkly, shaking his head in disbelief.

“What did you think would happen, Your Highness?” he asked. “That they would release me and let me get away with murder?”

It was clearly rhetorical so Alec didn’t answer. There was no point in responding to that. Magnus was right. He had made a mistake, trusting the Clave with a story that wasn’t even his to share. Magnus had warned him about how corrupted they were, but he hadn’t fully believed him. It had seemed impossible, at the time, that they could blame Magnus for what he had done once they knew he had had no other choice.

“Stop calling me that,” he said instead, feeling utterly vulnerable all of a sudden.

“What?” Magnus sneered. “Your Highness? Well, that’s your formal title, isn’t it? Or is it Your Majesty? Your Royal Highness? I’ve never been good with these formalities.”

“It’s Alec to you,” Alec whispered.

Magnus heaved out a deep breath, running a hand through his tired features.

“What are you doing here, Alec?” he sighed, his tone suddenly devoid of his previous verve, like the exhaustion had caught up to him and he couldn't hold the façade anymore.

“I had to see you,” he said, rushing the words out, afraid he would lose his nerves if he didn’t just tear them out. “I-I had to let you know. I did everything I could. I tried. I’m so sorry, Magnus. I know it’s my fault.”

“I’m the one who murdered a man,” Magnus argued halfheartedly. “Maybe I deserve to be hanged indeed.”

He let out the words with such ease, brushing them off like they were nothing, that Alec almost dropped his torch in shock. His stomach twisted painfully and he took a step closer. He could smell the rustiness of the gates, mixed with the already unpleasant moisture in the atmosphere, and he scrunched his nose in discomfort.

“You don’t,” he said, his free hand wrapping around one of the bars, clutching it in a strong grip.

Magnus shook his head and finally rose to his feet in one swift and elegant movement, the necklaces around his neck and bracelets on his wrists clicking together in an entrancing melody.

He didn’t come closer but leveled Alec with an impassible glare, his jaw twitching slightly.

“I’m a pirate, Alec,” Magnus said quietly. “I got caught. Now I’m being hanged. What is it your friends from the Clave keep repeating? The law is hard, but it is the law.”

“Maybe the law is wrong,” Alec replied hastily, his voice rising with newfound verve, his grip tightening on the metallic bar. “Maybe the law should be changed.”

Magnus curved an eyebrow and stepped closer. “Lower your voice or you’ll end up in a cell like me, royal blood or not,” he muttered.

“Why do you care?” Alec asked, unable to keep away a conceited smirk.

It was clearly the wrong thing to say because Magnus’ eyes darkened and he took another step towards Alec, his gaze boring into his, cold and unrepentant.

“Don’t try to twist this around,” he hissed threateningly. “You’re the one who lied to me. I cared enough to be honest with you. I told you things about myself, private, intimate things and you still lied to me. I made the foolish choice of trusting you and see how it backfired.”

He gestured broadly to the cell he was in, his fingers dancing in the air with a grace Alec almost envied.

“I know,” Alec sighed, playful demeanor gone completely. “But I cared too. I thought I was doing the right thing.”

“By hiding your real identity from me?”

Alec shook his head, grimacing. “No, not that. That was just me being an idiot.”

“Can’t disagree with you on that,” Magnus deadpanned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Alec scoffed in mild amusement, rolling his eyes. “It’s just –“ He paused, took a deep breath. The look Magnus was giving him made him want to squirm uncomfortably on his feet but he pushed the urge away. “At first, it was just the pirate thing,” he mumbled, running a nervous hand at the nape of his neck. “I thought you’d try to kill me if you knew.”

Magnus was about to protest but Alec cut him off, shutting him up by holding a hand up. “You can’t blame me for this, Magnus,” he said firmly. “I didn’t know any better. You’re a pirate and I was wearing the uniform of the Navy. These two things aren’t exactly material for camaraderie.”

“Is that what we call it these days?” Magnus quipped, a light smirk playing on his lips.

Alec glared at him, pushing the torch away from his face in order to conceal his amused smile.

“Then, I got to know you,” he went on, wisely choosing to ignore Magnus’ interruption, “and you were nothing like I thought you would be. Nothing like what we’re told about pirates.”

“I do have perfect teeth,” Magnus retorted teasingly. “And I usually smell nice, when I haven’t spent two nights in a cell.”

Alec rolled his eyes again and this time, a soft laugh escaped him before he could try to hold it back.

“You weren’t ruthless. Or cruel. Or anything of the things I thought you’d be,” Alec murmured, closing his eyes in a vain attempt at taming the wild beating of his heart. “Instead, you were patient, and funny and… and kind.”

“You forgot devastatingly sexy,” Magnus chimed in.

Alec fully groaned this time. “I’m trying to explain myself.”

“I know,” the pirate said quietly, taking a final step so that the distance between them was now only possible because of the metal bars of the cell.

“I was scared you’d see me differently if you knew who I was and I didn’t want to lose… whatever it was,” Alec muttered, lowering his gaze to the ground. “I felt free for the first time in my life and it was all thanks to you but… I still lied to you and I’m sorry.”

For a moment that seemed to drag forever, Magnus was silent and Alec just stared into his eyes, trying to read there the words that didn’t come, the insult that he would certainly deserve.

But Magnus did none of that. Instead, he reached out to close his fingers around Alec’s hand, still clutching at the bar like a lifeline, his thumb stroking the inside of his wrist reverently.

“I don’t need your apology, Alec,” he murmured. “But if you need it to go on, I’ll give you your absolution. Apology accepted. Now please, don’t torture me any longer. I’m going to die tomorrow, I don’t want your sad eyes to be the last memory I’ll have of you.”

“I don’t want you to die,” Alec confessed in a whisper that Magnus only heard because of how close they were standing, cursing inwardly when his voice wavered out of control.

“I’m not particularly keen on the idea either, darling,” Magnus replied on the same tone.

Alec felt a surge of relief burst into his chest at the pet name. He had hated it at first. Now, it bore the evidence of the undeniable affection between them and the memory of the two weeks they had spent together.

Two weeks. It seemed ridiculous, how attached he was, how the mere thought of losing Magnus seemed to rip something inside of him when they had only known each other for so long.

Alec had another confession at the tip of his tongue, but he kept it to himself.

There was no need to dwell on feelings that would never be expressed externally otherwise. The hope he had foolishly nursed for something more was going to die the following day with Magnus.

.

Alec pushed on his elbows to crawl away from the sea, coughing salted water out of his burning lungs. He let himself collapse on the sand as soon as he was far away to be safe from the ocean. His whole body felt like it was on fire, which was a strange paradox when he had almost drowned.

He allowed himself a few moments to gather his thoughts, his insides seemingly ripping apart every time he took a breath.

When he was nearly certain he wasn’t about to pass out, he pushed on his elbows to look at the horizon, the remains of his ship already disappearing, swallowed by a ruthless ocean.

He looked desperately around himself, trying to find another survivor but he quickly had to draw the painful conclusion that he was the only one, the beach empty apart from the pieces of wood from the ship washing ashore on the sand.

“That’s bad luck, darling,” came a voice behind him.

Apparently the beach wasn’t as empty as he had fathomed.

Alec startled and leaped on his feet, before swaying, his head left dizzy by the effort of swimming out of the wreck.

He waited until the dizziness passed before he actually settled his eyes on the man.

His breath hitched in his throat and it had nothing left to do with drowning. Although watching the stranger in front of him felt oddly similar, his heart rummaging in his chest, his blood pulsing with a mixture of fear and adrenaline.

The first thing he noticed were his eyes. They were a peculiar shade of brown prickled with gold, lined by a dark kohl that only brought them out more. He was smirking and it was one of those smirks that Alec usually hated, one that was mocking but also seemed to never leave the person who bore it, like they were constantly judging the world around them, deeming themselves above others.

Coming from a royal family, Alec had seen these same smirks in his family more often than he could count.

He let his gaze dance over the stranger, taking in the light brown skin, glimmering entrancingly under the zenith, his toned chest ridiculously exposed by his barely buttoned shirt and the sharp cheekbones. Eventually, his eyes stopped their exploration on the man’s arms and the bare skin of his wrist, boring the unmistakable burned mark of pirates.

Alec was immediately pulled out of his daze, reaching for his bow over his shoulder but finding nothing but empty air. He swore internally and made to grab his sword instead that was thankfully still firmly hooked in the case tied to his belt.

The pirate actually chuckled in amusement when he pulled it out, facing him with all the verve of a man ready to fight.

The swift movement made him swing on his feet again but he managed to hold his ground.

“Pirate,” Alec hissed threateningly, doing his best not to grimace when his voice croaked, effectively ruining his menacing posture.

“Really?” the stranger exclaimed, curving a dubious eyebrow at him. “You can barely stand.”

“I can still kill you,” he growled.

The man huffed out a deep sigh, shook his head and in a swift motion that left Alec completely bewildered, leaped on him, kicking at his legs.

Alec fell on his back and the air was knocked out of his lungs once more.

“Sure you can,” the man quipped, kicking the sword out of Alec’s hand, standing over him with his hands on his hips.

“You cheated,” Alec moaned petulantly, erupting in a fit of coughs, wincing in pain. “You didn’t even salute.”

The pirate fully laughed this time.

“Well, you said it yourself, darling,” he said playfully. “I’m a pirate. We don’t exactly play by the rules.”

Alec was seeing stars but he knew it was barely midday. He wasn’t sure if it was coming from the man’s eyes or from his whiling mind. He decided settling for “probably both” was the best solution.

“Cheater,” was the last thing he said, barely a mumble, before he plunged in darkness.

.

Alec woke up to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore angrily and a fire crackling next to him. His whole body felt sore to the very core, like a horde of wild horses had stepped on him relentlessly. He opened his eyes slowly and was amazed to see the endless darkness staring back at him, stars flashing in the sky like beacons of hope for all the lost souls of the world. He felt oddly at peace for a moment, the sheer beauty of the night managing to soothe his mind.

His respite was short-lived.

“So, pretty boy, what happened to your ship?” asked a voice behind him and Alec would have leaped to his feet if he had the strength to.

Instead, he pushed on his elbow to lie on his side, looking up at the stranger, who was sitting by the fire, nonchalantly carving something in a piece of wood with an awfully sharp knife.

“Who are you?” he croaked out, his voice still rough from the near-death experience.

“The name is Magnus Bane,” he said and Alec froze entirely, his eyes widening. He reached for his sword but it was gone.

The pirate smirked. “Oh, so you’ve heard of me,” he taunted, the flames dancing in his gold-prickled brown eyes making him look devilish as possible.

“Of course I have,” Alec retorted with all the vigor he could summon. “You’re a pirate. You’re wanted in Idris and all the nearby realms.”

Magnus’ smirk only widened and he leaned forward, tugging his elbows on his knees and tilting his head in a conceited gesture that made Alec narrow his eyes at him.

“And what are you going to do about it, pretty boy?” he sneered, pure mischief dripping off his velvety voice.

“I’m going to arrest you,” Alec replied stubbornly. He pushed on his elbows and managed, not without some difficulty, to kneel by the fire, shuffling closer to the warmth.

Magnus fully laughed this time, his head thrown back, the flames now dancing on the exposed skin of his neck. Alec found himself staring but quickly recovered, mentally cursing himself.

“You and whose army?” the pirate jabbed.

“I don’t need an army,” Alec growled. “I’ll arrest you myself and take you back to Idris to have you judged.”

“Judged?” Magnus laughed again but it was far more rancorous this time. “Oh, darling.”

It sounded so patronizing that Alec had to resist the urge to dive for his sword right there and then. He could see it, lying next to Magnus in the sand, completely discarded.

“Stop calling me these things, pirate,” he gritted out through clenched teeth.

“Well, I don’t have any other name to call you,” he retorted.

Alec leveled him with an unimpressed glare but didn’t reply, mentally pondering that giving him the silent treatment was the adult thing to do.

He chose to survey his surroundings instead.

How he had managed to end up on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean with none other than one of the most wanted pirates in the realm was lost to him but as he watched the horizon, he felt himself looking forward to getting home just so he could retail the story to Max, who always was impossibly and endearingly excited at the slightest mention of pirates. It was an endless source of sorrow for their parents and Alec pretended to agree, but he often had the hardest time hiding a grin at his brother’s enthusiasm.

The beach they were on only stopped at the sea and behind them, the vegetation gave way to a jungle that seemed just as dangerous as the storm that was driving the ocean wild in front of them.

Alec was ashamed to admit it but he had no idea what to do. He was used to being surrounded by a myriad of people running around to do things for him before he could even think of making them. It didn’t mean he was completely useless but he realized with the start that for the first time in his life, he was alone. Or mostly.

Pirates apart, he was. His parents weren’t there to tell him what to do, say and how to behave. His tutor wasn’t here to make him go through tomes and tomes of laws to learn by heart. No one was going to force him to train for combat for three to five hours a day.

It was unsettling, because Alec was a creature of habit before anything else, but it was also, somehow, incredibly liberating.

He knew it would be short-lived. They were supposed to arrive back to Idris in two days and his parents would send a whole fleet to look for him as soon as they’d realize he wasn’t coming back.

He grimaced when his stomach grumbled loudly, disrupting the otherwise quiet night, and turned to look at the jungle behind him, trying to locate something edible in a tree. He could only see darkness and nothing else and gave up with a heavy sigh. He would have to find something in the morning.

He was about ready to lie back down, shifting to get closer to the fire when ring-clad fingers materialized in front of his eyes and he startled, looking up to find Magnus glancing down at him with his eternal mischievous smirk.

Alec hadn’t heard him approach, his steps feather-like on the sand. He was handing him a mango, already opened and ready to be devoured but Alec eyed him warily, squinting only one dubious eye at him.

“What is this?”

“It’s a mango, pretty boy,” Magnus retorted, deadpan. “Surely you’ve seen a mango before in your high castle.”

“Of course I have,” he snapped. “Why are you giving me a mango?”

Magnus rolled his eyes. “Because I’m not going to let you starve, you gigantic idiot.”

“Why not?” Alec asked, genuinely confused.

“Because I may be a pirate, but I’m not a monster,” Magnus sighed. “But if you don’t want it, I can eat an extra one,” he added.

Alec heard the mischief in his tone but he couldn’t help himself. He reached out, closing his fingers around the man’s wrist, right above his pirate mark, and gripped it tightly.

“No,” he protested and he sounded far more desperate than he would have hoped.

Magnus chuckled and let him take the fruit out of his hand. “I was kidding, pretty boy,” he teased. “I already had at least three. Just eat something.”

Alec watched bemusedly as he walked away to sit back on his spot, humming a pirate song under his breath.

“Alec,” he found himself saying, albeit reluctantly. “My name is Alec.”

.

“Alec!”

He stopped dead on his tracks, his breath hitching in his throat in apprehension. He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply through the nose to soothe his nerves, striding the rest of the way to Isabelle, who was standing next to the door of his bedroom.

“Where were you?” she whispered as soon as he was close enough.

“I-I went for a walk,” Alec replied, painfully aware that his sister would read right through him.

It wasn’t her who snorted, though, but another familiar presence in his back.

“In the middle of the night?” Jace said dubiously, slamming a strong hand on his shoulder. “For two hours?”

“It was a long walk.”

“You went to see him, didn’t you?” Isabelle murmured excitedly. “The pirate?”

Alec’s mouth fell open in shock, surprise written all over his features and he grabbed his siblings’ arms to drag them inside his room.

“What are you talking about?” he blurted out once he had carefully locked the door behind them. “Why would I go see the pirate in the middle of the night?”

“I don’t know,” Jace deadpanned, quirking an eyebrow at him. “You tell us.”

“I didn’t –“

“Don’t lie to us, Alec,” Isabelle cut in. “We know you too well.”

Alec heaved out a deep breath, crossing his arms over his chest just to show them how unhappy he was with their little intervention. “Fine,” he grumbled begrudgingly, “I went to see him.”

Isabelle started leaping up and down on her feet, a wide grin spreading on her lips. “Alec is friends with a pirate, Jace,” she exclaimed, repeatedly hitting their brother in the shoulder in excitement. “He’s not as boring as we thought he was.”

Jace hissed, rubbing at his shoulder with a grimace. Alec threw them his most unimpressed glare.

“You’re not _friends_ , though, are you?” Jace asked, his face a perfect mask of gravity.

Alec swallowed past the lump in his throat, letting a few seconds pass before he’d try to deny it.

He was so tired of denying it, though. He was tired of lying to the people he cared the most about. And Jace and Isabelle already knew anyway. Isabelle was right, they knew him too well.

So, in the safe haven of his room, with only his siblings to hear him, he didn't.

“How did you –“

“I was on the ship that found you on that deserted island,” Jace said, as if Alec needed a reminder. “You had just spent two weeks stuck with a pirate and you looked happier than I had ever seen you.”

“And that’s not mentioning how you went through the whole Clave to convince them the pirate was innocent,” Isabelle chimed in.

“He’s not innocent,” Alec sighed. “He did it, but he was defending himself.”

“They don’t care about that,” Isabelle said, reaching out to lean a reassuring hand on his forearm.

“It’s my fault,” he breathed out. “I should have realized they wouldn’t let him go and find a way to help him escape before we landed. Now they’re going to hang him in the morning and I – I – _Shit_.”

He ran a hand on his features, clutching at his hair in a lousy effort at keeping his head straight. When he allowed himself to look back at his siblings, they were both wearing the same grin. A grin that only meant one thing: trouble.

“Brother, I hate it when you’re so quick to dismiss our genius,” Jace said, a mischievous smirk gracing his mouth, making his handsome features look close to devilish.

“Come on,” Isabelle added, yanking on his arm to make him sit on the bed with them. “We’re not going to let your boyfriend die.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Alec protested. “He’s a pirate and I’m the prince of Idris.”

“Forbidden love,” Isabelle exclaimed with a cheerful grin, ignoring Alec’s look of total horror. “Even better!”

.

“So, pretty boy, why did you join the Navy?”

“Why did you become a pirate?” Alec countered huffily.

He couldn’t exactly tell the bloodthirsty pirate that the tales told him to be that he was wearing a Navy uniform because joining the Navy was mandatory for the prince of Idris. It would just give the man an incentive to kill him and be celebrated by his peers as the one who had stricken fatal damage to the royal family.

Actually, he didn’t have to tell him anything.

They were both standing in the water, now calm and peaceful, their pants rolled up to their knees, two hand-made spears – that was why Magnus had been craving wood the night before – in their hands, looking out for a fish that would serve them as lunch.

Alec wasn't overly fond of the situation. Having to collaborate with a pirate to find food and just _survive_ was frustrating but he was smart enough to recognize it was his best chance of survival. He didn’t know what it was to have to hunt, or fish for that matter, for food. Unlike Magnus, who clearly knew what he was doing.

“Okay,” Magnus chuckled, “fair enough. Let’s try something easier, then. How did you end up on a deserted island? What happened to your ship?”

Alec kept his mouth shut, scrunching his nose in mild annoyance.

Magnus heaved out a deep sigh and Alec could perfectly picture the roll of his eyes even though his own were completely focused on the cerulean water.

“Alec,” he said and Alec actually looked up and to the side at him, surprised to hear his name in his mouth instead of one of his ridiculous nicknames, “by the look of things, we’re going to be stuck here for a while. You can’t give me the silent treatment forever, darling.”

Alec groaned at the pet name, but shook his head in resignation.

“We were ambushed by a group of pirates,” he eventually admitted reluctantly. “They attacked us. The ship drowned and we had to abandon it.” He gestured broadly to the point in the horizon where his ship has sunk the day before. “I managed to swim here but the rest of m- the men were either killed or captured.”

“Would the captain happen to be a woman, by any chance?” Magnus asked, a surprisingly grave edge tainting his usual lighthearted tone.

“Yeah,” Alec replied with a frowned. “I didn’t catch her name but she had a French accent.”

“Camille,” Magnus said like it was as obvious to Alec as it seemed to be for him.

“You know her?” Alec asked without bothering to hide the accusation in his tone.

“I do,” Magnus scoffed, like he was aware of something funny that Alec ignored. “She’s the reason why I’m stuck here.”

Alec frowned, fully turning towards him now, entirely forgetting about his lunch. He hadn’t been doing a very good job anyway.

Magnus caught his bemused gaze and shrugged dismissively. “I was the captain of the ship that attacked you until yesterday morning. Camille was my second-in-command. She didn’t agree with my code of conduct so she organized a mutiny.”

“You got marooned by your own crew?” Alec inquired, curving an eyebrow in a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.

“No,” Magnus groaned, playful demeanor wholly gone. “My usual crew stayed in Nelson’s York. I was supposed to meet them there in a month. This was a crew I hired just for this particular job. Camille probably promised them double the wage. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted her.”

“Why did you, then?”

“We have… history,” Magnus eluded with a disregarding flourish that lacked of real intent.

“Oh,” Alec said in a breath. He let a heartbeat pass before curiosity got the best of him. “Why did you fight?”

Magnus casted a wary glance at him, like he was scared Alec was going to repeat everything he said. As Alec didn’t speak fish fluently, he thought Magnus was pretty safe on this matter. Magnus seemed to draw the same conclusion because he eventually shrugged, forgetting about his inward qualms.

“You might think we are ruthless, but pirates go by a code,” Magnus explained, darting his eyes back on the water. “That code can change from a captain to another. I have a particular set of rules that I demand of my crew.”

It was quite obvious that Magnus was trying to evade the question.

“Are pirates always so cryptic?” Alec inquired, leveling him with an unimpressed glance.

Magnus chuckled lightly, biting on his bottom lip. “Fine,” he muttered, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. “We were going after a treasure that I’ve been looking for a few years. It’s a ruby that belonged to a Lord of Idris before he died and has been lost ever since. When we got to the place where it was supposed to be, it was another dead end. There was a ruby but it wasn’t the right one. Camille wanted to kill the man who had misinformed us about the jewel. I refused. We fought.”

“You refused?” Alec exclaimed bemusedly. “Aren’t you supposed to enjoy – how do you pirates say? – blowing men down?”

“I’m all for blowing things,” Magnus replied, almost purring, throwing him a suggestive wink that made his cheeks burn. Alec ducked his head in an attempt at hiding it, fully aware that it was vain. “Just not innocent people. He made an honest mistake. The ruby was very similar to the one I’m looking for. But as much as I want to find it, I won’t kill innocent people to achieve my goal.”

Magnus must have caught the surprise on Alec’s features because he chuckled again, shaking his head almost fondly.

“Sorry darling,” he said tauntingly, “I just ruined that bloodthirsty, ruthless pirate idea of yours, didn’t I?”

Alec tried to refrain his curiosity. He didn’t care about what Magnus had to say. He was a pirate. Alec was in the Navy. His main task was to hunt down people like Magnus and bring them to justice. Without question.

It seemed like Magnus’ easy confession had implanted something in his brain, though, initiating a reflection he had never allowed himself - or been allowed - to have before. Maybe things weren’t as black and white as his tutors from the Clave had taught him to believe.

“Why did you become a pirate if it’s not for the pillaging and plundering?” he heard himself wonder out loud before he could stop himself.

Magnus didn’t reply but his face suddenly morphed, his grave scowl vanishing to be replaced by his usual playful demeanor, his eternal mocking smirk back on his lips.

“Less talking, more fishing, pretty boy,” he exclaimed with a dismissive flourish.

Alec threw him a pointed glare. “You haven’t caught anything either,” he protested, trying not to cringe at his own crankiness.

Magnus’ smirk widened and he pulled his own spear out of the water, showing off the two fishes he had somehow caught while they had been talking.

“Cheater,” Alec mumbled petulantly.

“Pirate,” Magnus corrected with a wide grin.

Alec turned around and walked back to the beach to hide the light traitorous smile that was playing on his lips. He was just glad at the idea of eating something other than a mango. It had nothing to Magnus. The pirate.

.

“Your Royal Highness.”

Alec repressed a groan and swirled around to face the officer at his door. He tugged on his uniform to smooth the fabric, inhaling deeply through the nose.

“Your parents requested you to attend the hanging,” the officer told him, as if Alec hadn’t already known.

“I’m ready,” he said solemnly, urging himself not to fidget nervously.

His heart was rummaging in his chest, his whole body trembling with a combination of excitement and worry.

There was so much at stake, his own life on the line and yet, he felt oddly at peace with the decision he had taken in concertation with his siblings the night before.

He followed the officer down the stairs and many corridors that led to the courtyard where the hangings usually occurred. Alec was to join his parents and Isabelle on the royal rostrum, an honor that wasn’t given to Jace since he had been adopted. For once, this was playing in their favor.

A dreadful shiver ran down his spine at the sight of the single rope on the wooden gallows where Magnus would be walking soon enough.

The crowd was already gathered in the courtyard, surrounded by armed officers in uniforms. There were quiet chatter and a few laughs waving through them. Alec had never understood what morbid excitement the people could find in attending a hanging.

He had always hated it, ever since the very first one when he had been barely nine and forced to attend as the heir to the crown.

The courtyard was particularly crowded this day, though, and Alec knew it was because word had spread that they had finally caught the infamous Magnus Bane. The ruthless, cruel, vicious pirate.

They were so far from the truth. Alec wanted to yell his frustration.

Instead, he remained quiet and took his seat next to his father, sharing a quick conniving look with his sister when she winked at him, nodding barely noticeably.

.

On their first week on the island, they managed to set up a routine to survive that proved to be oddly efficient.

On the mornings, they would fish and Alec was quite proud to admit he was getting better at it, although Magnus liked to humble him by reminding him that he was still the best fisherman out of the two of them. They’d have lunch on the outskirts of the jungle, seeking a place in the shade to avoid the beating sun. In the afternoon, while Alec went to pick up some fruits for the evening, Magnus would go deep in the forest to fetch them some water.

As reluctant as Alec had been at first, they began talking, sharing stories of their lives, so diametrically opposed.

When he listened to Magnus’ tales of traveling the world, tasting the most amazing food, meeting the most wonderful people, Alec found himself dreaming of such freedom. He had been raised to be king someday. Freedom like the one Magnus experienced every day had never been an option.

After a whole week, however, Alec didn’t crave freedom.

He craved a long, steamy, relaxing bath.

He had used the water from the dew-covered leaves of the trees near the beach to keep a semblance of hygiene every morning but it had only been good enough for so long. Now, he was starting to feel uncomfortable. And he really needed to clean his uniform too. It smelt like salt and deep sea. It was awful.

“What are you sulking about, darling?” Magnus asked, curving an elegant eyebrow at him.

“I want a bath so bad,” Alec sighed, running a hand through his chin, his scruff itching under his fingers. “I’d kill for a bath right now.”

He took a bite of the fish they had carefully roasted over the fire with far more roughness than necessary, glaring at the food like it had personally offended him.

Magnus smirked. “You don’t have to go that far, especially when I’m the only person you can kill on this island.”

Alec rolled his eyes, but the light smile tugging at his lips betrayed his true feelings.

Then, his amusement vanished into thin air as he took in the meaning behind Magnus’ taunting words.

“What do you mean?” he breathed out.

Magnus gestured vaguely to the jungle behind them, in a carefree, indifferent way that made Alec’s mouth fall open.

“What?”

“Where do you think I’ve been getting us water?” Magnus retorted, seemingly surprised at Alec’s reaction. “There’s a source in the jungle. It’s small but it’s enough to wash.”

“Why the hell did you not mention it before?” Alec blurted out accusingly, his voice rising unexpectedly.

“I did!” Magnus exclaimed, holding both his hands up in defense. “At the very beginning! And you grumbled something about pirates.”

“I thought you were making fun of me!” Alec protested, looking up at the sky in exasperation.

“As much as I like winding you up, I don’t spend my entire time making fun of you, Alec,” Magnus said in disbelief. “For someone as smart as you, you can seriously be an idiot sometimes.”

Alec glared at him and, without as much of a warning, leaped on his feet, grabbing Magnus by the sleeve of his shirt to drag him up.

“Hey!”

“Shut up, Bane,” he growled threateningly. “You’re taking me to that source. Now!”

“I haven’t even finished my food,” Magnus objected, although he let Alec haul him in the jungle.

“I need a bath, Bane,” Alec countered, fully aware of how petulant he sounded.

“So, we went from ‘Pirate’ to ‘Bane’, I’m calling it progress,” Magnus commented lightheartedly.

Alec stopped dead on his tracks and swirled around to face him.

“I don’t know where I’m going,” he admitted sheepishly, sending Magnus a murderous glare when his only answer was a growing smirk.

Magnus blinked, pulled his arm out of Alec’s strong grip and took the lead, a light bounce to his steps that was impossibly infuriating.

Alec forgot all about his mild irritation – and refused to think about the slight fondness that accompanied it – when they stumbled into a small clearing, lightened by the sun glowing through the branches of the highest trees. The pit of water was indeed small, but the water was clear and when Alec kneeled to gather some in his hands and drink, it was simply heavenly.

When he managed to tear himself out of his daze, although he remained in awe of the beauty around him, he looked up only to find Magnus pulling his shirt over his head and, because he was and always had been an articulate person, Alec blanked completely.

It wasn’t like Alec had ignored Magnus’ attractiveness.

Being as refrained as possible because of his social rank didn’t mean he lied to himself. Alec liked men, he always had and always would and there was nothing he – or anyone, for that matter – could do about it.

And Alec had been raised to appreciate the finest things, from the quality of food to the metal of a sword. It was only normal that he would look for the same finesse in a man.

And… Well, Magnus was the epitome of finesse.

His light brown skin seemed to glimmer under the halos of light cutting through the branches, emphasizing the defined lines of his chest and torso, the strong muscles of his arms and shoulders flexing as he moved around with his usual grace, a grace Alec had never thought he’d find in an outlaw as infamous as Magnus Bane himself.

He had to blink twice and shake his head to stop staring, eternally grateful for Magnus having his attention elsewhere and therefore not noticing.

Until Magnus turned towards him and smirked, his mesmerizing eyes lighting up with pure, sheer mischief.

“Like what you see, darling?” he teased.

“W-What are you doing?” Alec blurted out, cursing inwardly when his voice wavered on the end.

“I’m getting undressed,” Magnus said matter-of-factly, “to do my second favorite thing to do while naked. I’ll let you guess the first one.”

Magnus threw him a wink and Alec blushed, wondering if he could just combust from the heat that spread all the way from his cheeks to his neck.

“C-Can’t you wait until I’m done?” he asked, hating how childish it suddenly made him sound.

“Why, darling?” Magnus taunted, opening his belt while staring straight into his eyes. Alec refused to let his eyes wander lower. “Are you afraid you wouldn’t be able to resist the pirate’s charms?”

“Of course not,” Alec snapped.

“Of course,” Magnus chuckled. “You’re the one who dragged me here with you and I had planned on taking a bath this afternoon anyway.” He paused, his gaze softening just enough for Alec to notice the slight change. “But if you’re really uncomfortable, I can wait.”

“No,” Alec grumbled because he was a grown adult. “It’s fine.”

Magnus seemed awfully satisfied with himself and Alec was struck with the fleeting thought that perhaps it had been his plan all along.

He most certainly didn’t stare when Magnus finished undressing until he was as naked as the day he was born, focusing instead on unbuttoning his own shirt, taking measured, regular breaths to steady his heartbeats.

He undressed himself meticulously, carefully avoiding glancing to the side at Magnus and mimicking the man’s own movements to wash his clothes. When he was done, he laid them on a nearby rock to dry and finally joined Magnus, who had finished washing his own clothes way before he did.

The pit was small, but big enough so that they could swim without touching or even brushing each other, which was far more reassuring than Alec had expected the thought to be.

As soon as he was fully immersed in the water, though, Alec forgot everything about his previous qualms. He let the slight waves work on easing his tense muscles, the delicate current lulling him to a state of total relaxation. He let out a deep groan, closing his eyes to plunge his head under the water, running a hand in his disheveled hair.

When he reemerged and opened his eyes, Magnus had stopped swimming a few feet from him and he was staring quite frankly, his eyes shining with a dark glow that Alec refused to explore.

But his brain – although he wasn’t entirely sure his brain had the full control of the situation – was being uncooperative because it recognized the spark as what it was: lust.

His breath hitched in his throat.

For an instant, he was tempted to look over his shoulder, scrutinize his surroundings to find the disapproving glares of his parents or any member of the Clave, but he remembered that they weren’t here, that on this island, perhaps he had the freedom he had found himself longing for when Magnus had told him some of his piracy tales.

If his brain was being uncooperative, his body was utterly betraying and he was suddenly grateful for the water hiding his more visible reactions.

His eyes darted over the exposed skin of Magnus’ shoulders and stopped on the scar that was spreading from his right shoulder to his collarbone, a thin line faded to a faint white by the years.

“What’s that?” he asked, jumping on the first distraction available.

Magnus’ eyes shifted and the previous spark was gone. When he realized what Alec was talking about, they darkened, his jaw flexing with his efforts of hiding the sudden vulnerability that Alec could read all too easily.

“That,” he breathed out, his voice rougher than Alec had ever heard it, “is from a much darker story. It’s actually from the day I became a pirate to the eyes of your precious law.”

Alec frowned. “Tell me,” he said, and it was more probing than demanding.

Magnus didn’t reply immediately. He shifted in the water, throwing his head back to let his hair sit in for a moment. Alec couldn’t help but to follow with his gaze a single drop than run down the skin of his exposed neck, utterly entranced. He wondered what would happened if he were to follow the same path with his tongue but pushed the thought away, shaking his head to clear his mind.

Eventually, Magnus straightened up, letting out a deep breath and Alec managed to tear his eyes away, too scared of being caught in the act.

“I come from Idris,” he said slowly, dragging the words out like he didn’t quite remember what he wanted to say. “I was born there. My mother was a servant for Lord Asmodeus.”

“He was murdered by a pirate,” Alec chimed in with a frown.

He remembered too well the endless meetings that had followed the man’s assassination. He remembered the interminable flow of hangings he had had to assist to. The Clave had wanted to make a statement, and Alec had been the powerless witness of their desire of revenge.

“I know,” Magnus said gravely. “I killed him.”

Alec gasped in surprise, his eyes widening slowly, as the realization dawned on him that Magnus wasn’t, for once, making fun of him. He was utterly serious.

“Lord Asmodeus had a habit of sleeping with his servants,” he went on imperturbably. Alec didn’t know if he was oblivious to his shock or if he chose to ignore it. “My mother was one of them. She thought he loved her, which he never did, of course.”

He paused and swam away, his eyes lost on the flow of water shuffling with his movements.

“Have you guessed where this is going yet?” Magnus asked absently, looking at Alec over his shoulder.

Alec had a decent idea but he chose to shrug instead of voicing it.

“Asmodeus was my father,” Magnus eventually admitted. “I grew up in the castle with the rest of the servants’ children but I had no idea who he was to me until I turned sixteen. I thought my father was my mother’s husband. He had always hated me, no matter how hard I tried to please him, and I had never understood why. Until Asmodeus came to my mother one day and demanded to have me coming to live with him.”

“Why?” Alec inquired and Magnus startled. His head snapped to look at Alec like he had completely forgotten he was here in the first place.

“He had no heir,” Magnus said softly. “Or no official ones at least and he was getting older.”

“I still don’t get how it went from that to you killing him,” Alec muttered bluntly, his brow furrowed in confusion.

“My mother said no,” Magnus replied, his eyes darting everywhere but at Alec. “Asmodeus didn’t want people thinking he had had a bastard with a servant which meant that if I went with him, she had to disappear. She didn’t want to leave me. So Asmodeus killed her.”

He said the words with such ease, as if they meant nothing, his tone plain and unwavering. But the pit of water was small, small enough that even with the distance between them, Alec could see how his shoulders tensed ever so slightly.

“In front of me,” he continued, his tone rougher than it had been a moment ago. “And then, he left, saying he’d come back in the evening to get me. I was ready to run after him to avenge my mother but my mother’s husband, the man I had thought to be my father, stopped me. He was a blacksmith and he had taught me how to use a sword, which was the only reason why I managed to defend myself when he tried to kill me.”

“What?” Alec blurted out before he could stop himself.

“He blamed me for my mother’s death,” Magnus eluded with a dismissive shrug. “That’s where that comes from,” he added, gesturing vaguely to the scar Alec had pointed out earlier. “I didn’t mean to but I was defending myself and I killed him. I was sixteen and terrified. I ran away and I offered my services to a pirate ship that was leaving the land the next day.”

He turned around, now facing Alec, his eyes boring years of a pain Alec couldn’t even begin to comprehend.

“There, you have it, your morbid pirate story,” Magnus drawled.

“I thought you said you had killed Asmodeus,” Alec pointed out with a slight scowl, unable to refrain himself.

“I did,” Magnus confirmed with a quick nod. “Years later. I was already a pirate by then.”

“What happened?”

Magnus chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re quite curious for someone who refuses to give away his last name, aren’t you?”

“I’m just Alec,” he replied at once.

Admittedly, it would have been the best opportunity to tell Magnus who he really was. By now, he knew Magnus wouldn’t kill him if he knew who he was, he wouldn’t try to make a trophy out of him. Unlike the first days, it wasn’t this idea that prevented him from telling the truth. It was something else, deeper and far more surprising.

He had heard Magnus talking about his hatred of the Clave all week long, at length and in awfully precise details. Alec was one of the main pawns on the Clave’s chessboard. His father might have been the one in charge, but he had been raised to take over.

Alec embodied everything Magnus hated with a passion.

And, somehow, the feeling surprising him, he realized he didn’t want this hatred to been directed at him.

“I didn’t go after Asmodeus,” Magnus sighed eventually. “Years later, I was already captain of my ship and my crew and I had stopped for the night on his land. I never got out of the ship whenever we stopped there and my crew was already in town to drink and celebrate a night on land. It was only me, Catarina and Ragnor. I had already made a name for myself. Asmodeus heard about me being here. He came to see me, claiming he wanted to talk.”

He chuckled, shaking his head, like there was something funny about this whole story that Alec couldn’t quite comprehend.

“I don’t know why I was stupid enough to believe he really wanted to talk,” he muttered through gritted teeth and his irritation seemed only aimed at himself. “He tried to kill me, I defended myself. There’s a pattern there, as you can see. Our fight took us to the deck and well… everyone on land saw when I inflicted the mortal blow.”

“Wait,” Alec cut in with a frown, “why did he want to kill you if he wanted you to be his heir?”

Magnus smirked and shifted in the water, closer but still far enough that Alec could breathe properly.

“I already had this at the time,” Magnus said, showing the burned mark on his wrist, a proud smirk tugging at his lips. “Can you imagine a Lord bearing the mark of pirates?” He paused, waiting for Alec to blink, “Yeah, me neither.”

“Still, he didn’t have to kill you,” Alec argued, only because he couldn’t really understand how it had taken such proportions.

“Asmodeus was as proud as he was cruel and as paranoid as he was powerful,” he uttered. “He was scared I would eventually come back to claim my heritage and thus tarnish his name. So he tried to get rid of me and he came alone because he wanted it to be as discreet as possible. His execution turned out to be quite public. The port was crowded when I killed him and well, news travel fast. I was already wanted before, but I became public enemy number one.”

“But people must have been able to tell you were defending yourself,” Alec cut in.

“Oh, they did,” Magnus chuckled, “and they told so to the Clave representatives who came to investigate it.”

“And they did nothing?” Alec asked bemusedly.

“Alec, darling,” Magnus scoffed, leveling him with an almost apologetic gaze. “The Clave is corrupted to the very core. They put their laws over justice and their laws are unfair. They are meant to support the wealthy, powerful men who are in positions of control. No, they did nothing. Paying the witnesses to keep their mouths shut is what they did.”

“What?” Alec exclaimed, his mouth suddenly feeling awfully dry. “The King would never let that happen.”

Magnus curved a dubious eyebrow at him. “The King is a pawn,” he countered with a finality that allowed no arguments. “The King is being manipulated by the Clave. He only has as much power as the Clave allows him to have.”

Alec didn’t reply, his gaze lost in the shivering wave of the water around him. He felt suddenly far less relaxed than he had moments ago. Somehow, he knew Magnus was telling the truth. After all, he had no reason to lie to him.

It was like his world had just been turned upside down, everything he knew and believed turning out to be nothing like he had thought it was or worse, like he had been taught it was.

“What about you, pretty boy?” Magnus went on, oblivious to the internal turmoil Alec was going through. “What’s your sad story?”

“I don’t have a sad story,” Alec argued halfheartedly.

“Well, your eyes speak differently,” Magnus said with a smile that reached his gaze, gracing him with a softness that had Alec’s breath stuttering in his throat once more. It was started to become recurrent and Alec wasn’t sure what to make of it. “You’ve got sadness in them.”

Alec opened his mouth to argue but the words didn’t come and he shrugged, diving deeper in the water until only his head was emerging, making himself as small as possible.

“I have nothing to complain about compared to you,” he muttered. “I just… I have to hide from the people I care the most about and I hate it but I have no choice if I want to protect them.” He paused, surprised to find himself bearing his worst qualms to an almost stranger. There was something about Magnus, however, something special that seemed to throw his heart on the line, to put his every nerve in high alert and made him want to talk about his deepest secrets. “I have responsibilities and these responsibilities mean I can’t be myself. Ever.”

“That’s sad,” Magnus said, not unkindly. “I have a past that I carry with me but at least, I can be true to myself and I know I’ll be just as free in the future.”

“I don’t have that luxury,” Alec replied with a shrug.

“Heavy is the head that wears the crown,” Magnus muttered, shifting just a little closer, tilting his head to the side.

“W-What?” he blurted out. He couldn’t know. He had been so careful. He had been so cautious about not slipping out.

“You’re from a noble family, aren’t you?” Magnus said and it was clearly rhetorical so Alec didn’t answer, still frozen at the idea of being discovered.

For once in his life, he could be Alec, just Alec, and he didn’t want to lose this, not for the time they still had together.

He knew that soon, they would be found. The entire Idris fleet was probably looking for him as they spoke but in the time being, he just wanted to be Alec.

“It’s in the way you hold yourself,” Magnus continued. “I lived in a castle, I mixed with aristocracy. I know one when I see one. You must be the eldest, I suppose. So, you’re to become a Lord?”

“Something like that,” Alec muttered under his breath.

“What’s that big secret of yours?” Magnus asked, his taunting smirk back on his face and it was becoming so familiar that Alec felt himself oddly soothed by it. “Did you get drunk and lost your virginity to a maiden? Did you make friends with the servants’ children? Oh, even better, did you –“

“I’m gay,” Alec cut in solemnly.

He hadn’t expected to physically feel the weight that seemed to lift off his shoulders, to feel as relieved as he did when the words came out of his mouth. For the first time ever.

It was terrifying and liberating all at once.

It was the best feeling Alec had ever experienced.

“Oh,” Magnus breathed out and Alec realized he hadn’t known, not completely at least. His flirting had truly been to wind him up, to pull on his strings to see when the noble boy would snap. Alec supposed he finally had. “There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Alec.”

“I know,” Alec said at once, but it was a lie.

He had had to hide for so long, the shame had come with it, no matter how many times he had repeated himself that it was okay.

“It is a sad story,” Magnus concluded, clearly seeing right through Alec’s mask of gravity. “It doesn’t necessarily mean it has to have a sad ending.”

Alec frowned. He had never thought of it that way.

But perhaps Magnus was right. Perhaps there was still a dash of hope for him.

.

The crowd fell quiet when the sound of the officers’ boots started echoing through the courtyard and Alec held his breath at the sight of Magnus being escorted to the wooden gallows, a hessian bag over his head.

“Father,” Alec breathed out, leaning to the side to murmur directly at him, “you need to listen to me.”

“Alexander,” the King sighed, looking honestly upset, “I did and I believe you. If you say he was defending himself, I’m sure he was but I’m not the one taking these decisions. The Clave overrules me when it comes to justice.”

“This isn’t justice, it’s an execution because they know he knows too much,” Alec argued and although he kept his voice down, he was sure his father could hear the desperation in his tone.

“The Clave –“

“Fuck the Clave,” Alec cut in sternly, ignoring how his father’s eyes widened at the curse. “You’re the King. You control the army. You’re popular. They can’t do anything against you.”

Robert seemed to hesitate, his mouth opening and closing as he continued to stare bewilderedly at his eldest son.

“Is it because it’s him?” he asked, gesturing discreetly to where Magnus was now standing in front of the crowd, still blinded by the bag.

Alec tried not to let his surprise show but his father’s words allowed no other explanation than he already knew. Maybe he always had.

“Yes,” Alec said.

It wasn’t entirely true. There was also a primal need to destroy the Clave, the people who had corrupted a realm that was bound to be his some day with questionable morals, but this argument had already failed.

“Alexander,” his father said disapprovingly, his brow pulled into a chastising frown. “He’s a pirate.”

“He’s a good man,” Alec argued. “And even if it wasn’t for him, Father, this is about us, about the power we have or haven’t. You can be the one to overthrow an institution that has been corrupted for years and will continue to be, unless you do something.”

“I –“ the King started, but immediately halted himself. “You’ll get over it, Alec,” he said, an oddly comforting edge to his tone.

“Father,” Alec called out again, not bothering to hide the despair from his tone this time. “Please.”

Robert closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I can’t risk the crown for an infatuation of yours,” he uttered with a finality that left no room for negotiation.

“At the end of the day,” Alec retorted, far more harshly than he would usually allow himself to be with his father, his king, “your crown is worth nothing if you can’t use it to fix a flawed system.”

His father clenched his teeth, his jaw flexing slightly but he didn’t reply, instead turning to look at the gallows, where the head of the Clave was taking the stairs. Valentine Morgenstern stood proudly in front of the crowd, a conceited grin on his lips. Alec was tempted to nock an arrow right between his eyes.

He pulled a piece of paper out of his uniform’s pocket, just as the bag was taken off Magnus’ head.

Magnus looked lost for a moment, his eyes squinting to adjust to the blinding light of the midday sun but he quickly recovered, holding himself tall on his feet, facing the crowd with all the verve of a man ready to stare into the death’s eyes and tell her that the one who was about to go through hell wasn’t necessarily Magnus himself.

Magnus’ eyes darted over the crowd and eventually rose higher, where the royal family was standing. They stopped on Alec and Alec had to force himself to swallow past the lump in his throat.

He threw him a smile, weak, trembling and barely there but Magnus caught it anyway because his eyes softened and he winked. It was barely perceptible but it threw his heart in overdrive, his temples throbbing with every single beat.

“Magnus Bane,” Valentine Morgenstern declared solemnly, reading from the paper in his hands.

He was stopped mid-sentence by someone clearing their throat and Alec had to repress a cackle when Magnus leaned forward to glance at the man, giving him a feral smile that was more efficient than any insult would have been.

“It’s Captain Magnus Bane,” he chipped, immediately going back to stand straight on his feet. “The title is important.”

“You are accused of a series of crimes against the Crown –“

“Are you going to list them all?” Magnus interrupted again, looking impossibly bored. “Because if you do, we’re going to be here for a while.”

Alec snorted, hiding a grin behind his hand. His father threw him a stern glare, but Alec could see in his eyes he was amused himself.

“Yes,” Valentine snapped. “Let’s start with the –“

“Excuse me?” another voice cut in and Valentine clearly resisted the urge to groan petulantly. “I have something to say.”

Jace cut a straight line through the crowd, stopping right in front of the scaffold.

“What is this?” Robert gritted through clenched teeth, leaning in to whisper at Alec.

“I’m sorry, Father,” Alec said truthfully. “You left me no other choice.”

.

“Alec?”

Alec startled, looking over his shoulder to see Magnus standing there, a tentative smile on his lips. It made him frown, the look so unusual on Magnus that it was oddly unsettling.

He was sitting on the beach, watching the sun fall behind the horizon, bathing the scenery in a glow of pale colors. It was breathtaking, but somehow, it was nothing compared to the way Magnus looked under these same lights, his brown skin shining, the gold in his eyes prickling like the stars that would soon grace the sky.

He hummed in acknowledgment, not sure he could trust his voice.

“Come on,” Magnus said hesitantly, gesturing to the side with his chin. “I need to show you something.”

Alec rose to his feet without faltering and he wasn’t sure if his lack of hesitation was due to his natural curiosity or to the trust he had build towards Magnus in the past thirteen days.

Magnus started walking further down the beach, away from where they had set up camp on the first days and stopped after a while.

“Here,” Magnus muttered, kicking at the sand with his bare foot.

Alec frowned. “What? What am I supposed to see?”

“There,” Magnus insisted, pointing a finger at the horizon. “Your rescue is coming.”

Alec had to squint his eyes to see but sure enough, there were about five ships, still quite far but slowly approaching. Magnus held him his spyglass, one of the few things he had managed to save when Camille had dropped him here and abandoned. So Alec watched and he immediately recognized the flags of the Idris Navy. They were coming for him and from the look of it, they were just a day and a half, maybe two days away.

“Oh,” he breathed out.

He had expected to be thrilled. And he was. He couldn’t wait to be reunited with his siblings, and to see his parents and his friends. He couldn’t wait for a real bath, with real soap, and for a change of clothes. He couldn’t wait to eat something other than fish and fruits. He couldn’t wait to shave, although he had to admit he had grown somehow attached to the scruff in the past few days.

But all of that, as much as he longed for it, meant going back to a life of lies, of pretending to be someone he wasn’t, of responsibilities that could be ripped away from him at the slightest inadvertence.

It meant going back to a life without Magnus, without the freedom he had had a taste of.

“I think they’ll reach the island tomorrow night,” Magnus said, in a detached tone that made something painful tug in Alec’s chest. “You’ll be back in –“

Alec didn’t let him finish. He didn’t know what possessed him to do it, hadn’t realized how desperate he had been for this but he gripped Magnus’ shirt tightly, his fingers brushing over the exposed skin of his chest and pulled him forward, smashing their mouths together.

Magnus made a noise of surprise in the back of his throat but he quickly melted against him, his arms circling Alec’s neck, taking a handful of his hair in a rough grasp.

Alec had no idea what he was doing. The kiss was messy, unpracticed, rushed but he poured his whole being into it, to the frustration he had accumulated throughout his life to the one he was feeling right now at the idea of losing Magnus when he had never truly had him. If the way Magnus whimpered against his mouth when he tentatively bit on his bottom lip was anything to go by, he was probably doing at least something right.

He felt dizzy and he didn’t know if it was from the heat, the lack of oxygen or just Magnus but his whole body was on fire and seemed to be about to combust.

Alec pulled back eventually, because the need for air was starting to overpower the almost animalistic need he had for more of Magnus, all of Magnus and he smirked when Magnus chased blindingly after his mouth, opening his eyes to stare into his own, wide and oh so easy to read.

Alec dove for another kiss and this time, Magnus was expecting it because he met him halfway, using his grip on Alec’s hair to pull him even closer, until they were all but melting into each other, unable to tell when one began and the other ended.

He moaned when Magnus’ tongue slid along his bottom lip, surprised by the reactions of his own body. He hadn’t known it was possible to experience something so powerful, to lose yourself in sensations ignited by a pair of hands rummaging through your hair and a mouth dancing with your own.

Alec knew one thing for sure, however: he never wanted it to stop.

He had to, though, when Magnus pulled back once more, only to lean his forehead against Alec’s collarbone, panting as heavily as Alec was himself. He closed his arms around his shoulders, huddling him in the safety of his embrace. Magnus pressed a kiss against his pulse point, his fingers grasping at his shirt like he was afraid Alec would disappear if he let go.

Alec wasn’t too keen on finding out what would happen when he had to let go of Magnus.

.

“The Clave is making a mistake,” Jace exclaimed, his grave voice wavering through the crowd with the power of thunder. “But it’s not the first mistake the Clave has made these past few years.”

“Lord Jonathan,” Valentine gritted out through clenched teeth, “I don’t know what you think you’re doing but –“

“I’m trying to prevent the execution of an innocent man.”

“And I appreciate it,” Magnus chimed in, looking awfully pleased for someone who had a rope around his neck. “But if you’re trying to defend my case, try not to use the word innocent to describe me. It just doesn’t seem appropriate.”

He punctuated his words with a grimace and some laughs erupted in the crowd, although most of the people here were hanging to Jace’s every word.

“What is Jace doing?” the King asked next to Alec, his eyes widened with shock.

“He’s doing what we should have done,” Alec hissed. “He doesn’t care about losing his title and he knows I’ll pardon him if he is condemned to anything, as I have a right to when it comes to the royal family.”

“He isn’t royal family,” Robert said, clear panic in his voice.

“You adopted him,” Alec retorted. “He’s family.”

“He is to us,” Robert replied, shaking his head at his son’s stubbornness. “He isn’t in the eyes of the Clave, he doesn’t have royal blood. You won’t be able to pardon him if he gets arrested. Nor will I.”

“Shit,” Alec murmured.

Clearly, a night staying up with his siblings hadn’t been enough to think this through.

“When did you get such a filthy mouth?” Robert blurted out, shock crossing his features.

Alec rolled his eyes and rose to his feet, ready to intervene but Jace was already talking.

“I have proof of the Clave’s corruption,” he claimed, his voice rising above the crowd’s excitement. “And yours particularly, Lord Morgenstern,” he added, his eyes boring into Valentine’s, whose lips were pulled in a wrathful grimace.

“And what would these proofs be?” he inquired gravely, his dark eyes flashing dangerously.

“I have witnesses willing to talk about how you paid them to lie so you could prosecute innocent people for piracy,” he said, a smug smirk tugging at his lips.

“And where are those witnesses now?” Valentine drawled, crossing his arms over his chest in a conceited manner.

“I’m glad you asked,” Jace retorted, a wide grin gracing his features.

He swirled around in a dramatic flourish that reminded Alec of Magnus for a fleeting moment. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. A group of people in the back of the courtyard moved forward. They were about fifteen, of different ages and, judging by their clothes, different social ranks.

Valentine blanched, clearly reminiscing some of the faces. Alec had no idea whatsoever how Jace had managed to gather such a group of people in so little time. He turned to share an astonished glance with his sister but Isabelle was standing next to him, smirking, and he knew she was responsible for this. She had some contacts that Alec usually ignored, wanting nothing to do with them, but he’d have to thank them, soon.

Valentine raised a hand before Jace could go on.

“Lord Jonathan,” he said, his tone imperious and commanding, “the Clave will hear whatever you have to say when we are done here.”

“Oh no, I think you’re going to hear it now,” Jace countered, somehow looking even more imposing than Morgenstern. “Some of these people have things to say about the particular event you arrested him for, Lord Asmodeus’ murder.”

“Which he confessed,” Valentine retorted.

Alec darted a look to Magnus, who was still standing on the gallows, a few feet behind Valentine, the rope around his neck. His eyes were focused on the scene playing but he seemed to feel Alec’s gaze on him because he turned to look at him, curving an inquisitive eyebrow at him in silent question. Alec felt a burst of confidence grow in his chest and he winked. Magnus smirked, shaking his head almost fondly.

“He was defending himself!” Jace protested.

“So?” Valentine hissed. “He still killed a Lord. Do you expect me to care more about a bastard’s life than the one of a Lord?”

“A bastard?” Jace echoed with a complacent grin. “Who said anything about a bastard?”

Valentine visibly deflated but his face quickly turned into a mask of pure fury.

“Guards,” he yelled almost petulantly, “seize them!”

With that, he whirled around, looking straight at the hangman. “Proceed,” he growled, his fingers twitching with anger.

.

Alec woke up beset by an internal conflict that even the comforting presence of Magnus in his arms couldn’t soothe. He had to tell him the truth. He had to tell him before the ships attained the island and Magnus learned it another way.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by the pirate’s lips brushing against his neck, his warm breath sending a wave of shivers down Alec’s spine and he found himself grinning to himself, stroking Magnus’ back with a gentle care.

“How long until they get here?” Magnus asked, his rough morning voice sending much different thoughts to Alec’s mind.

“I’d say approximately twelve hours,” Alec replied.

Magnus hummed, shuffling closer to Alec, burying his head in his neck to pepper it with soft kisses and gentle nips.

“How about a bath, then?” Magnus whispered.

“You just want to ogle my naked body,” Alec teased, feeling improbably bold.

“Oh, I want to do way more than ogle your naked body,” Magnus retorted, punctuating his words with a sharper nip just below Alec’s jaw line.

He flushed and bit on his bottom lip hard to suppress the animalistic groan that was menacing to get out.

“A bath sounds good,” he breathed out instead, his voice rougher than barely seconds ago.

Magnus chuckled and finally pulled out of his neck, greeting him with a light peck on the lips before he extracted himself from Alec’s arms, rolling on his back to look at the sky for a moment, before turning his head to look at him.

“They’re going to arrest me,” he said.

“I know,” Alec muttered. “I’ll tell them the truth. I’ll tell them you were defending yourself.”

“You’re adorable,” Magnus scoffed, bringing a hand up to cup his scruffy cheek. “So full of illusions, so willing to see the good everywhere, even in an awful pirate like me. So beautiful.” He tugged a strand of hair away from Alec’s forehead, almost reverently. “So innocent.”

Alec’s heart skipped a beat before taking on a quickened rhythm. He could have protested, could have found something clever to say to that but his mind was stuck on the way Magnus’ eyes looked under the morning sun, glimmering with a combination of gentleness, affection and mischief.

Instead, he swept Magnus to his feet, grabbing him by the waist. “I’ll show you innocent,” he grumbled, walking a straight line to the jungle.

Magnus circled his legs around his waist and his arms around his neck and laughed, throwing his head back. Alec wished he could have bottled up the sound for when he would inevitably have to face the storm that would wait for him once he was back home.

The clearing was even more beautiful in the mornings, glowing from the soft lights of the sun, making the water seem like an ocean of lights, flickering with the wind.

Alec only had eyes for Magnus.

Unlike the previous time they had used the clearing together, they undressed each other, slowly at first, taking in every new bit of exposed skin with a budding hunger and then, Magnus’ fingers brushed – deliberately, Alec was sure of it – against his growing bulge and Alec lost all restraint, crashing their mouths in a frantic kiss while his hands rushed to get Magnus rid of the rest of his clothes, his hands moving with the same desperation that was driving his lips.

“Alec,” Magnus breathed out when they were both undressed and Alec dragged him to the water, never letting go of his hips, fingers dancing along the arms and shoulders he had spent so much time staring at.

Alec hummed in acknowledgment, too far gone to find his words.

“Slow down,” Magnus murmured softly, tugging lightly on Alec’s hair to force him to meet his eyes.

He leaned in to peck his lips but refused to deepen the kiss. Alec whimpered at the loss and Magnus gasped, closing his eyes tightly as if to pull himself back together.

“I don’t want you to do something you’d regret,” Magnus went on, opening his eyes leisurely to glance up at him through his lashes. “This will stay with you even when we’re back in Idris. I don’t want you to feel like you _have_ to do it or –“

“Magnus,” Alec panted urgently.

“Mmh?”

“Shut up,” he growled, reaching down to close experimental fingers around Magnus’ throbbing erection.

“Shutting up now,” Magnus moaned, bringing their mouths back together.

.

For a moment, thankfully short, Alec’s world stopped working.

The hangman seemed to move excruciatingly and purposely slowly just to torture him, walking to the handle that would lead Magnus to his death in leisured, measured steps, the wood cracking under his feet. Alec was pulled out of his thoughts by Isabelle, who punched his shoulder without preamble, hard enough that he would certainly bruise the next day.

He didn’t blame her, instead planting a kiss in her hair before he ran out of the royal rostrum and down the stairs that led to the courtyard.

“Alec!” his father yelled behind him, but he didn’t turn back.

Clary was waiting for him down the stairs with his bow and quiver. He had had no idea that she was going to be involved. Isabelle had only mentioned a backup plan and when he grabbed his weapon, he had no trouble guessing what this plan involved.

Perhaps Magnus wasn’t the love of his life but Magnus was just that: a _maybe_ , a realm of possibilities in a life that had seemed, up until then, like a simple box with four walls and nothing to discover beyond them.

He would be damned if he let his only chance at an excited life die without a fight.

He didn’t even thank her, just dashed out of the door and into the courtyard, just as the hangman was finally reaching the handle, his strong, big hands closing around it.

Alec didn’t think. He grabbed an arrow, nocked it to the bowstring and aimed.

His breath was coming out in short puffs, his heart rummaging in his chest and he allowed himself two seconds, nothing more, to calm himself, focusing on nothing else than the rope above Magnus’ head. The only thing that mattered right now.

The hangman pulled on the handle and Alec let the arrow fly.

.

“Magnus, I need to tell you something,” Alec murmured, taking a deep breath to summon every bit of courage he had in him.

They didn’t have much time left. The ships were close enough that they could distinguish the flags without Magnus’ spyglass.

Magnus turned to look at him, quirking an eyebrow, his brow furrowed in genuine interest. It made an uneasy feeling flutter in Alec’s chest.

He was such an idiot. He should have told him from the start. Magnus was more trustworthy than all the people surrounding him every day, his siblings and friends apart.

“I’m not the son of a lord,” he admitted, staring straight into his eyes and taking a cautious step closer.

Magnus blinked, surprise crossing his features. “Well, I am and yet, I’m not,” he then said with a soft smile. “It’s not like I care who you are and where you’re from.”

He said it with such simplicity, such conviction that it only made Alec feel worse.

“I’m –“

“Your Royal Highness!”

“Alec!”

Alec startled and jumped away from Magnus, his eyes widening. He swirled around only to find Jace running toward him, a whole squadron of Navy officers following him.

“Your Royal Highness?” Magnus echoed bemusedly, his eyes never leaving Alec.

Alec spun back towards him hastily. “I’m so sorry,” he rushed out while they were still alone. “I swear it’s the only thing I lied about. I’m so sorry.”

“You’re not the son of a lord,” Magnus muttered in a bewildered tone that didn’t manage to conceal the betrayal underneath. “You’re King Robert’s son.”

Alec nodded, unable to find his words.

“Shit,” Magnus breathed out. “Did I fuck a prince?”

“Really?” Alec deadpanned, rolling his eyes.

“That’s the only thing I could think of that wouldn’t involve hurling insults at you,” Magnus retorted coldly. “That wouldn’t be the wisest idea when your subjects are about to join us.”

“Magnus,” Alec said, the desperate edge of his tone painfully obvious, “I’m sorry.”

Magnus didn’t get a chance to answer. Jace reached them first and he didn’t even cast the pirate a second glance, pulling Alec in a strong hug. Alec embraced him back just as fiercely.

Jace pulled back with a wide grin, patting his cheek.

“What, they don’t have anything to shave on deserted islands?” he said and his teasing tone already felt like home. “You take a two weeks holiday and you don’t even have the decency to appear presentable for your brother?”

Alec threw him an unimpressed glare. “I was so happy without you,” he sighed dramatically. “Why did you have to find me? I went to such lengths to get away from you.”

“Your Royal Highness,” one of the lieutenants almost yelled as they got to him, “are you alright?”

“I’m good,” Alec said with a firm nod.

Once they were reassured about him, they all turned in a same movement to face Magnus. If Jace remained impassible, a pure mask of indifference - although Alec knew him too well to be fooled and could read the curiosity underneath -, the officers were quick to react, pulling their swords out to direct them straight at Magnus’ throat.

“Get away from the prince, pirate,” the lieutenant said, narrowing threatening eyes at him.

Magnus scoffed, raising both his hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t dream of tarnishing his royal blood,” he snarled, his conceited, taunting smirk back on his face.

Alec only realized now that he hadn’t seen it in several days. Magnus had graced him with genuine smiles and his smirks had somehow lost their mocking undertones to be replaced by a bright playfulness.

He missed these already.

“Lower your weapons,” Alec commanded, his demanding tone leaving no room for negotiation.

“But –“

“I said lower your weapons,” Alec growled threateningly.

This time, they obeyed, looking bewilderingly between each other.

“We still have to arrest him,” said the first lieutenant, pointing at the pirate mark on Magnus’ wrist.

“I’m all yours, gentlemen,” Magnus retorted, curving an eyebrow in defiance.

One of the officers stepped closer to him, albeit warily, like he was afraid Magnus would jump at his throat if given the opportunity. “Where do you put your weapons, pirate?”

“Usually?” Magnus quipped, letting the officer search his every pocket. “In my enemies.”

Alec threw him a pleading gaze, mentally urging him to silence. He wouldn’t be able to protect him if Magnus kept this up. Magnus sent back a cold gaze, colder even than it had been on their first day together on this island when Alec had been unnecessarily rude to him.

When they started forcefully yanking him towards the landing craft they hadn’t seen approached earlier, too engrossed in each other, Alec grabbed Jace’s arm, holding him back so he could talk to him.

“Make sure they treat him right,” he said, his eyes boring straight into his brother’s.

Jace frowned, leveling him with a dubious look but he eventually nodded and Alec let him go to follow them, keeping a cautious eye on the officers each holding one of Magnus’ arms.

Magnus’ eyes remained purposely away from his own.

.

The arrow ripped through the rope and Magnus fell straight on the wooden floor of the gallows, landing heavily on his side.

He pushed on his elbow to sit up and took the time to throw a befuddled look at Alec before he realized what had happened.

A horde of soldiers was already marching their way but Alec ignored them, nocking another arrow on his bowstring, aiming it straight at Valentine.

“Release them,” he commanded, pointing at his brother and the group of witnesses with his chin. “Now!”

Valentine made a vague hand gesture and the guards obeyed. Jace immediately came to join Alec, tugging his sword out of his case, ready to fight if necessary.

Alec moved forward carefully, never darting his gaze away from Valentine, his arrow still carefully aimed right between his eyes.

“This man betrayed the Crown,” Valentine exclaimed, pointing an accusatory finger to Magnus, who was now back on his feet, his hands still fastened together. “If you’re protecting him, I’ll have no choice but to arrest you as well, Your Royal Highness.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Alec hissed.

“Your prince is betraying the Clave,” Valentine uttered, his voice booming over the crowd. “And for a pirate? Is this the people you want ruling you?”

“Oh, I’m sure they’d rather have a corrupted ass,” Jace chimed in, scornful disdain dripping from his tone.

“Guards!” Valentine yelled, walking straight to Magnus who leaped away, kicking him right in the stomach with such strength that Valentine went back scattering with a cough, in spite of his hands stuck in front of him.

“Enough!”

.

Alec slept for a whole day. He hadn’t realized how exhausted he actually was but when it caught up on him, he all but passed out in the captain’s cabin and only woke up to eat and bathe – a proper bath, with soap; he had never felt so relieved. Jace reassured him that, although he was imprisoned in the ship’s cells, Magnus was being fed and treated correctly. He didn’t ask why Alec insisted on a pirate’s well being and for that, Alec was immensely grateful.

The second day aboard, Alec gathered his courage to go down and talk to Magnus but he wasn’t given the opportunity to actually do so. He spent his morning training with Jace, who left him no other choice, and his afternoon with the ship’s captain and lieutenants going over the events he had missed in the past two weeks.

When he finally got a moment to himself, it was already pitch dark and the cells were guarded by two officers to which he had no will to explain why he wanted to visit a prisoner, and a pirate with that.

So he didn’t.

When they landed, Magnus was immediately taken to the castle’s jail and Alec still didn’t get the opportunity to talk to him.

He didn’t try, though. Instead, he spent the next two days trying to convince his father and every Clave representative available to release Magnus. When he hit wall after wall, closed door after closed door, he eventually resorted to telling Magnus’ story to his father, hoping it would change something.

It didn’t.

Alec learned a valuable lesson, during these two days, a continuity to the one he had only begun to learn when he had been stuck on that island with Magnus.

The good wasn’t always where we thought he was.

And desperate times called for desperate measures, so on the evening of the second day, the day before Magnus was meant to be hanged, he went to say goodbye, his heart in his throat, feeling like he had failed the only person who had managed to make him feel free to be himself, who had showed him what life could be about.

.

Alec froze, looking up to see his father standing at the edge of the rostrum, his crown shining under the midday sun, his shoulders squared in an imposing demeanor.

“Guards,” he called out and every officer in the area turned to look at him. “Take Lord Morgenstern to a cell while we conduct an investigation on these allegations. I, for one, am curious to hear what these witnesses have to say. You can then do the same with the other members of the Clave, as I am sure if these allegations turn out to be true, Lord Morgenstern didn’t act alone.”

“King Robert –“ Valentine exclaimed bemusedly.

“Enough,” he repeated sternly.

Next to him, Isabelle was sporting a wide grin and she waved at Valentine in a conceited manner that made Alec smirk too.

When Valentine and the other Clave representatives present were removed, not without much protest and clamor, Alec strode the rest of the way to the gallows, just as Magnus was coming down the stairs.

“Are you okay?” he asked as soon as he was close enough, barely refraining the urge to pull him into his arms.

“Are you insane?” Magnus blurted out, kicking him in the shin, his hands still fastened together.

Alec swallowed a pained moaned. “Hey!” he protested. “I just saved your life.”

“You almost got yourself arrested,” Magnus argued. He went to kick him again but Alec was ready this time and he leaped away before Magnus could actually hit him. “I want to kiss you so bad,” he added in a whisper.

Alec softened immediately, a sweet smile gracing his features. “I would if I could,” he said, reaching out to unfasten the rope around his wrists. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “About this whole mess.”

“I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to me,” Magnus retorted playfully, rubbing his sore skin. “I would normally ask for diamonds or rubies but for you, I can think of something else.”

Alec shook his head, surprised by the force of the relief that was pouring off his whole being.

“Pirate,” he muttered under his breath, doing a poor job at concealing his grin.

They both startled when someone cleared their throat next to them and Alec blanched at the sight of his royal father standing there, leveling them with a powerful, resolute gaze.

“You’re still a pirate,” the king said sternly, closing the distance between them. “I can’t have you running free.”

“Father.”

Alec barely had the time to get the word out. His father raised a hand up, effectively shutting him up.

“That being said,” Robert went on. “I can’t have my son, or any of my children -” he emphasized the words, casting a chastising glance at Alec, like he had been the one to drag his siblings into this mess, as if they needed to get dragged into anything to wreck havoc, “- running around helping outlaws escape. I’ll give you two days to gather your things and leave Idris. If the whole story Alec told me turns out to be true, you’ll be allowed back here. If not, next time you step on a gallows, I’ll pull the handle myself.”

Alec was about to protest but Magnus was quicker.

“Thank you, Your Majesty,” he said solemnly, giving a quick acknowledging nod.

The king turned around and walked away without another word.

“So, Your Royal Highness, are you busy for the next two days?” Magnus quipped, wiggling his eyebrows exaggeratedly.

.

“I don’t want you to leave,” Alec whispered in the dead of the night, the day before Magnus was meant to weigh the anchor to get back to his crew.

Magnus snuggled closer to him, entangling their legs together. He had managed to get him in his quarters without being caught, but he strongly suspected that his father knew and had let him do so, probably because he was aware of how short-lived it would be.

“Come with me,” Magnus offered, not for the first time, pressing a kiss on his jaw line.

Alec heaved out a deep sigh. “I wish I could,” he murmured. “But –“

“I know,” Magnus cut in and it sounded as defeated as Alec felt. “It would have been nice while it lasted. Except for the lying to me part. And the almost getting hanged part.”

Alec chuckled under his breath, tightening his hold on Magnus’ shoulders.

“You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?” he muttered, staging an annoyed glare.

“Nope,” Magnus retorted. “I’ll never forget about the time when you were the biggest idiot in the world.”

“You’re talking to your future king,” Alec teased, pushing him down the mattress to hover above him. “Mind your tone, pirate.”

“I also made my future king come twice in the last hour,” Magnus exclaimed bluntly, fingers dancing along Alec’s biceps. “Does that earn me a regal pardon, Your Royal Highness?”

Alec smirked, leaning down to bite on his collarbone.

“I guess I could be persuaded,” he whispered against his ear. “I’m feeling particularly merciful tonight.”

“That’s because I made you come twice in the last hour,” Magnus panted, reaching down to squeeze Alec’s ass teasingly.

Alec pulled out of his neck to send him his most unimpressed glare.

“You’re an arrogant idiot.”

“I’m a pirate, darling,” Magnus corrected. “Now, let’s make that three times. I still have some time before that hour is up.”

Alec fully laughed this time but his laughter died in his throat when Magnus rolled his hips against his, swallowing his moan with a breathtaking kiss.

.

It was impossibly unfair that Alec had finally found a source of happiness in his life, no matter how unexpected and peculiar it was, only to have it ripped away from him so quickly.

He knew he would never be able to live freely with Magnus, out in the open for the world to witness their… whatever it was. He was fully aware that his sexuality would pose as much of a problem as the fact that Magnus was a pirate but still, these past two days had given him a glimpse of what this life could be and he found himself regretting spending them with Magnus in the first place.

Maybe if he hadn't let himself get a taste of it, as ephemeral as it had been, he wouldn't have been craving for more.

But Alec was meant to be king someday, and Magnus was a pirate. There was no way for them to work out.

“I can't say goodbye,” Magnus whispered, so lowly that Alec had to lean in to hear him.

He sighed, stepping forward to close the distance between them, crowding his face between his hands.

“Then don't,” he murmured.

Magnus nodded, leaning his forehead against Alec's.

“When is the ship to Nelson's York leaving?” Alec asked in a lame attempt at drifting the subject away from their reluctance to part.

“In two hours,” Magnus replied, stepping away. By which force he managed to do so, Alec had no idea.

He crossed Alec's room to pick up his discarded shirt, pulling it over his head.

“I should go,” he said but he didn't try to move.

“Yeah,” Alec said but he didn't show him to the door.

They both remained standing there, staring at each other in pure misery.

“Fuck,” Magnus breathed out, running a hand through his hair, sending Alec a desperate look. “Why is this so hard?”

Alex didn't reply. Instead, he marched his way to Magnus in two strides, grabbing his sleeve to tug him into his arms, smashing their mouths together.

Magnus whimpered - or maybe it was Alec, he wasn't really sure - and wrapped his arms around his neck, returning the kiss with a desperation that perfectly matched Alec's own.

Magnus was the first one to pull back, panting against his mouth.

“Farewell, Alexander,” he murmured, dropping one last, chaste kiss to his mouth.

And he turned around and left in a hurry, leaving Alec with the ghost of his lips against his and the already fleeting warmth of his body pressed against his own.

.

“Alec, are you alright? Isabelle asked.

He hated it when she did that, entering his room without permission and finding him in various states of vulnerability.

Today, he was sitting on his armchair by the window, looking at the ocean spreading and disappearing in the horizon, staring at the port beneath their feet in the vain hope of catching a glimpse of graceful flourishes or shimmering presence.

“Yeah Izzy, I’m good,” he lied.

“Where's Magnus?”

Alec startled, looking over his shoulder to see his little brother peeking at him from behind their sister’s legs.

“How do you know Magnus?” he inquired with a scowl, although it wasn't chastising.

“Yesterday, I came to look for you and he was here,” Max replied like it was a normal occurrence.

Alec had indeed left Magnus alone in his room for a couple of hours while he attended a meeting with his father and his few trusted advisors about forming an independent institution that would take over the Clave and proceed to its members’ trial at the same time.

“He told me so many great stories,” Max went on. “Did you know he had his ship stolen by a witch?”

Alec snorted. He wasn't sure the word Magnus had used was “witch”.

“He even told me about the time he found a prince on a beach and they had to fight a giant fish together and they won and had enough to eat for two weeks! Two whole weeks, Alec!”

Max was bouncing on his feet with excitement, oblivious to the ache that flashed in Alec's eyes. Isabelle saw it, though, because she reached out to take his hand, squeezing it in comfort.

“Then, they went in a jungle and fought an even bigger monster,” Max went on, gesturing broadly with his arms. “Magnus said it was the Lust Monster but I don't think it's a real thing.”

“Oh, it definitely is a real thing,” Isabelle cackled, ignoring the look of utter shock on Alec's face and his flushed cheeks.

“I asked Magnus the end of the story but he said it didn't have one,” Max said with a shrug. “He said the beauty of a love story is that it never truly ends.”

Alec froze and his previous embarrassment turned into absolute devastation.

Love. Of course it was love. No matter how silly it sounded, how quickly it had happened. It couldn't be anything but love.

Alec didn't know much about it but in that moment, he didn't have a single shade of doubt in him.

“Oh, fuck,” he breathed out.

Max gasped at the curse but Isabelle looked even more surprised. She dropped her brother's hand, bringing her own over her mouth.

“Alec,” she whispered bemusedly.

“I - I didn't know,” Alec swore. “I didn't know.”

“You have to go,” she exclaimed loudly, pulling him out of his thoughts. “Now!”

“W-What? Why?”

Isabelle rolled her eyes and smacked him behind the head.

“Go talk to Father, you idiot!”

Alec nodded once, blinked twice and ducked just in time to avoid another blow.

And then, he was running out of his room and into the corridors of the castle to the throne room where he knew he would find the king.

He barged in without a care in the world, startling the people inside, who all turned into a same movement to look at him, before hastily standing up to salute him.

“Father,” he panted, ignoring the rest of the room. “What if I take him with me?”

“Alexander,” Robert exclaimed in astonishment. “What are you talking about? What is the meaning of this?”

“What if I leave Idris too?” Alec eluded, although he knew it still didn't make much sense.

Robert sighed, turning towards his advisors to dismissive them with a flicker of his wrist.

As soon as they were alone, he turned to face his eldest son. “Explain,” he demanded. “In a way that I can understand, if you please.”

“You wanted to send me on that diplomatic mission, right?” Alec said, rushing the words out. He knew he didn't have much time. “I'd be away for a few months, maybe a whole year!”

Robert hummed in acknowledgement.

“What if I take Magnus with me?” Alec blurted out. “He wouldn't be in Idris _per se_ and it would leave you time to proceed to the Clave’s trials. He could be my interpret! He speaks at least ten different languages.”

“I thought you didn't want to go on that trip,” Robert replied sternly, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I don't,” Alex admitted bluntly. “What I want is Magnus.”

Robert rolled his eyes but huffed out a disbelieving laugh that belied the irritated behavior.

“Even when you're back Alec, if - and that's a big if - he is pardoned and allowed to remain in Idris, you can't be with a man and give an heir to the throne!”

“Isabelle's children will be my heirs,” Alec exclaimed desperately. “Or Max's. Or Jace’s. Our bloodline is long enough to find me an heir! The realm will survive a gay king.”

“The opinion might think differently.”

“Father, please,” Alec pleaded, fidgeting nervously with his fingers. “We'll figure it all out. We always do. But he is leaving soon and I don't have the luxury of talking politics right now.”

Robert sighed again, his shoulders slouching a little and pinched his nose between his index and his thumb, shaking his head.

“Go and get him,” he said. “We’ll talk about this as soon as you're back. With him, too. Now, go.”

Alec didn't need to be told twice.

He was out of the door and running in a heartbeat, ignoring his siblings, plus Clary, who had been eavesdropping, huddled against the door.

And he ran, he ran as if his life depended on it and in a way, he pondered to himself, it probably did. He was aware of Jace following him, and probably the rest of his family too but he never stopped to check. No one really paid him attention, not even in the streets, and it was certainly because he wasn't wearing his formal clothes but just a loose shirt and a pair of navy pants that Magnus had thrown at his head in the morning.

When he stumbled onto the port, it was crowded, people running around like ants and Alec had never been so grateful for his height, which allowed him to hover above them.

“Let's split up,” Jace panted once he reached him, patting his shoulder.

Alec nodded and wasted no time, heading straight to the biggest moored ships.

He searched for a while and every second seemed to bring him closer to the edge.

Magnus couldn't be gone. Not yet. Not so soon. Not when he had found a solution.

His purposeless wander eventually brought him directly to the shore, beneath the parcel that led to the biggest ships and just as he was about to give in to the idea that Magnus had probably already left, he found him.

His heart skipped a beat, and two, and three before seemingly jumping up and down in his chest, momentarily cutting off his breath.

“Magnus!”

Magnus looked up from where he had been staring at the bottle of rum in his hand dreamily and his face turned into a mask of pure shock as Alec strode the rest of way that separated them and finally allowed himself to stop, resting his hands on his knees to catch his breath.

“Alec,” Magnus murmured in both awe and disbelief, like he was wondering if maybe he was just a cruel trick of his mind. “What are you doing here?”

“Don't go,” Alec said, falling in the sand to sit next to him.

“Darling,” Magnus muttered, closing his eyes as if to push back tears, “I'll be hanged if I stay here. Your father was very clear.”

“You won't,” Alec responded, shaking his head.

“Don't do this to me,” Magnus murmured. “Don't give me false hopes. That's cruel.”

“We found another solution,” Alec exclaimed, reaching out to trap Magnus’ hand in a strong grip. “I'll explain everything. Just tell me you'll stay.”

Magnus looked up at him through his lashes and was silent for a long moment. Eventually, he shook his head, heaving out a sorrowful sigh.

“No,” he said.

Alec gaped. Somehow, he hadn't imagined Magnus would say no. It felt like his heart was torn out of his chest and stepped upon relentlessly, ruthlessly.

“You're the future king and I'm a pirate,” Magnus reasoned. “That's not mentioning that we are both males. You could lose your crown.”

“I don't want the crown,” Alec declared with a solemn gravity, “ I want you. _I love you_.”

Magnus' breath hitched and his head shot up to look at Alec in bewilderment.

“Tell me you'll stay,” Alec asked again. “Don't make this another sad story.”

Magnus was silent for a long time, staring at Alec like he was both the most amazing and the most terrifying thing he had seen in his life.

And then, when Alec was starting to wonder if he was truly going to walk away from him, from the myriad of possibilities he could already picture for them, from this incredible chance at something unique and precious, Magnus nodded.

“I'll stay,” he said.

These were the most beautiful words Alec had ever heard, he pondered to himself, pulling him into his arms for a lingering, desperate, breathtaking kiss, away from preying eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr [@lecrit](http://lecrit.tumblr.com/) and on twitter [@_L_ecrit](https://twitter.com/_L_ecrit)
> 
> People who leave kudos and comments are automatically saved from walking the plank. I don't make the rules.
> 
> Yo-ho-ho ❤


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